Background

Boreal caribou populations are highly sensitive to disturbances in their ranges and have a low reproductive rate. These wide ranging animals are the “canary in the coal mine” for the Boreal Forest. Boreal caribou were re-assessed by COSEWIC (Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada) in November 2014 and determined to be Threatened. Much of its habitat was found to be degraded and the species is declining especially in the southern part of its range in Canada.

In October 2017, Wildlands League published the first ever progress report on whether critical habitat of the iconic boreal caribou is protected in Canada. Read more here. The Editorial Board of the Toronto Star weighed in strongly here.

Environment Canada, in its Recovery Strategy for Woodland Caribou set a maximum of 35% disturbance threshold that in turn has a 60% probability of a caribou population being self-sustaining. It cautions that even with this maximum threshold there is still a 40% chance of the population not being self-sustaining. Critical habitat protection needs to be enacted in Ontario to stem the decline of caribou populations.

Wildlands League stands up for caribou by:

calling for stronger protection measures in national and provincial recovery strategies;

reviewing environmental assessment plans by industry proposing to operate (or that are operating) in caribou country;

highlighting threats to boreal caribou in Ontario;

producing an annual report on the federal and provincial governments’ progress in caribou conservation;

putting forth solutions that protect habitat (see our report on hydro lines in caribou country or our work on the Cochrane Plan in the Abitibi River Forest);

working with the forest industry to produce caribou action plans;

carrying out field visits to caribou country to better understand stresses on their habitat;

supporting the documentation of Traditional Ecological Knowledge by First Nations;

supporting new scientific research;

talking to scientists to make sure we are applying the latest science on caribou conservation; and,

when all else fails, going to court.

In December 2015, as part of the 3rd annual review CPAWS does on caribou, we assessed Ontario. Read more here.

In May 2017, Wildlands League and Ontario Nature’s application to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking the Court to hear an appeal affecting all endangered and threatened species including caribou in Ontario, was dismissed.

While we have exhausted this particular legal avenue, it doesn’t change the fact that MNR made a regulation that exempts major industries from protecting endangered & threatened species and their habitat. It’s up to all of us now to work even harder to scrutinize resource development projects and find ways to protect habitat.

Wildlands League will also be looking to the federal government to step in, under federal species law, to protect caribou habitat that Ontario is refusing to protect under provincial law.

Caribou

Boreal caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) is one of Canada’s most iconic species. On November 14, 2018, Wildlands League called on the federal government to step in and protect boreal caribou critical habitat in two ranges in northwestern Ontario. Read the legal petition submitted by Ecojustice here.

On May 1 2018, the Government of Canada finally published its first section 63 report for boreal caribou. Read our statement here.

Also see the scientists’ letter here debunking the Forest Products Association of Canada’s claims on caribou.

Wildlands League has been sounding the alarm on boreal caribou for a number of years because scientists were concerned at the rate by which boreal woodland caribou were disappearing – due largely to human destruction of their habitat. Caribou are bellwethers of the Boreal Forest’s health. They thrive in landscapes that are largely untouched by industrial development.

Why we care

Province-wide, Ontario has already lost 40-50% of its historic boreal caribou distribution. And local caribou populations here are facing high-risk situations.

Protecting the habitat of boreal caribou means the Boreal Forest ecosystem as a whole would benefit including other species that rely on healthy, intact forests for their survival such as wolverine and interior songbirds. Boreal forests also cleanse our air and water, and store vasts amounts of carbon within their soils, moderating climate change.

Protecting Canada’s remaining boreal caribou critical habitat is essential to maintaining fully functioning ecosystems within boreal forests and wetlands for generations to come. Protecting caribou habitat would also help Canada meet its international commitment to protect 17% of lands and inland waters by 2020.

Solution

It is vital that Ontario and other jurisdictions take action to ensure there is mandatory and enforceable protection of boreal caribou critical habitat.

We work on a number of collaborative projects that aim to protect caribou habitat. Learn more about our work on the Cochrane Plan in the Abitibi River Forest, or with transmission line proposals in caribou country.